Learning how food is produced in modern society can be a stressful and life-changing process. I think the saying: "Ignorance is bliss," has never applied better than with post-modern nutrition- the modern diet that humans have adopted for themselves for the sake of promoting convenience and cost-cutting over health and longevity. In the past, we battled against natural occurring toxins and harmful foods, but today's hazards consist of man-made toxic chemical substances and harmful processes that we are fighting against. It's understandable by just watching a few documentaries and reading one of the countless blogs on the web that one could become obsessed with avoiding virtually everything- even foods that just until recently were deemed healthy by default! (e.g. boxed orange juice, whole milk, sport drinks, etc). After just coming out of a similar experience myself, I wanted to share with you what I would avoid eating if I were still obsessed:

I would never eat at a restaurant again. They use undisclosed and questionable ingredients that I’d never want to put on my plate.

I will never eat meat again. We all know how it's raised and how it can be a cruel process; it's unsustainable and full of hormones anyway.

I will always filter water with a 5-stage system at home. Faucet water has unfiltered chemicals contained with pharmaceutical rundowns. I will carry my water everywhere I go, no exceptions.

I will never buy processed or boxed food from a supermarket. Think about it, the longer a product's shelf life, the shorter of human beings. I call that Dead Food.

I will always prepare every single food in my own kitchen with my own ingredients. Always.

If I’m traveling, I’d rather starve and eat raw items that I know were not treated in some processing plant containing pesticides, artificial ingredients, or toxic preservatives. AND they should be Organic (Hint: even commercial peanuts use canola oil in the extraction process, so you shall avoid those too. I'm just saying).

I will never eat products with harmful ingredients such as MSG, colorants, preservatives, unknown GRAS chemicals that makes bread softer and salmon more orange.

I will never eat anything GMO (hint: over 80% of your supermarket's products today contains some sort of GMO ingredient that potentially got sprayed with harmful Glyphosate, aka Roundup).

I will always and only eat seasonal, local, organic food.

Has stress already affected you? You may come to the realization while reading the above list, that even obsession can be harmful to us.

The secret is moderation and prevention.

It seems obvious, but caught up in a fast-paced lifestyle, we all forget how to remain balanced. There is always a measure that we have to find and observe in order to maintain our body and mind’s health.

There is a way to figure it all out, and it’s called

food education

With time, the project manager inside of me figured that in order to heal from my obsession, I had to LEARN the following basics:

My bio-individuality;

What I like, what I don’t like and WHY.

My eating history. What did I eat as a kid with my family, and how that affects what I'm eating now? What food I'm eating to curb my emotions rather than my body's nutrients requirements?

Where food comes from? Often, I am surprised how often we don't know more specifics about the food we eat every day. For example, do you know what garlic or cauliflower looks like before it's picked from....the shelves of your favorite supermarket?

How food makes me feel. Do I reflect often enough to know how certain foods affect my daily routine more than others would. This changes my game plan from: "What do I feel like eating?" to "How do I want to feel after I eat?", which is a huge adjustment to get used to.

These are some of the questions that really got me thinking. In the long run, I know that I will thank myself for taking the time to explore and understand the most important elements that make my body and mind healthy for life.

ARE YOU FOOD SMART ?

Mauro is the founder of online food magazine Don't Stop Eating. He also is a board certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and a graduating student at the US Esogetic Colorpuncture Institute. Mauro offers a 6-month coaching program called STEP ONE, and he promotes living and doing what we love best. Mauro is also an Ambassador at Live In the Grey, which promotes living and doing what we love best.

Simone Bresciani has explored and evolved from stage musician to producer and expanded his musical range from hard rock to ambient. His recent two new albums go beyond simple new age though. They spill into healing music also called isochronic tones and binaural beats. I interviewed Simone and explored with him his latest work.

The fridge seem to be the most often disregarded modern object living in our kitchen. Nowadays everyone in the civilized world has one. When is the last time that you were taught how to use it? I can't honestly remember, and I think I need a refresher myself. Fortunately there is plenty of resources out there, and I put it all together for you to review.

The morning of February the 17th I was guest at Radio Nuova York, a new web radio started by Ricky Russo and Alberto Polo catering to the Italians in NY. Ricky, whom I've met through common friends a while ago, asked me to go live on his new show and to explain the turn of events that have been dominating and leading my last couple years of my life: me going through a tough time in my life, quitting my job and "taking the plunge", becoming an health coach and a Colorpuncture therapist in the process.

Even though artificial colorants are deemed safe by the FDA, it seems that the whole processed food industry is moving toward changing their products formulas to include mostly if not uniquely plant-based ingredients in the future.

Let's see what are some of the creative approaches that companies are making to adjust to this new demand.

Like it wasn't enough worrying about our adult selves, science is telling us that what our mom eats and how she behaves for the 1,000 days from pregnancy to our 2-year old age, matters in many ways, and affects us all in the long run.

It was a surprise to discover that my lovely neighbor Joanna in Brooklyn owns Brooklyn Brittle, a cookie company. But the best part of this great discovery is that Joanna and her business partner Gemma's cookies are top notch quality and their philosophy goes hand in hand with my idea of Food with a capital F: freshly baked by local people, carefully made with selected and healthy ingredients, produce only in small batches to keep the cookie always fresh. You can't have more than that in one small bag!